“The tax on goods produced and sold within a country — as opposed to customs duty on imports — is called excise, from a Dutch word whose origin is still debated, but whose application to beer, tobacco, and spirits has been consistent since the 17th century.”
The origin of excise is genuinely contested. The most likely source is Middle Dutch accijns (tax, toll), possibly from Latin accensus (taxed, listed). Alternatively, some etymologists derive it from Latin excisus (cut out, deducted) — as though the tax is cut from the price. What is clear is that excise entered English in the 17th century specifically for the inland duty on goods produced and sold domestically, as opposed to customs (paid at the border on imports).
The English Excise Act of 1643, introduced during the Civil War to fund Parliament's forces against Charles I, was the first systematic English excise. It levied duties on beer, ale, cider, and cloth. The tax was enormously unpopular — it fell on everyday consumption rather than imported luxuries — and the excise collectors were sometimes attacked. But Parliament needed revenue, and excise delivered it. By 1660 the Restoration government retained the excise.
Samuel Johnson defined excise in his 1755 Dictionary with unusual venom: 'A hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid.' Johnson's antipathy reflected a century of popular resentment toward excise collectors, who had powers of entry and inspection that common law protections did not fully limit.
Modern excise duties are the state's most reliable revenue from behavior: alcohol excise, tobacco excise, fuel excise, gambling excise. They serve double duty — raising revenue while (governments argue) discouraging behavior judged socially costly. The 17th-century Dutch tax on beer became the 21st century mechanism for nudging consumption.
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Samuel Johnson hated excise because excise collectors could walk into his house and check his ale supply. Customs collectors were at the port; excise collectors were everywhere. The power of the excise was its reach into domestic production and consumption.
Modern 'sin taxes' — high excise on alcohol, tobacco, and sugar — are justified both by revenue and by behavior change. The tax is supposed to make the behavior more expensive and therefore less frequent. Johnson would recognize this. He would still hate it.
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